Gomez and Drury are both Rangers

*UPDATE, 8:54 p.m.: Just got off the phone. Glen Sather admitted he didn’t think he was going to be able to land both, but that it worked out in his favor. The team has also already extended an offer to Henrik Lundqvist about a new deal, but Sather also suggested this could change things slightly. And they expect Brendan Shanahan back. More later…*

The Rangers have confirmed they have signed both Scott Gomez AND Chris Drury.

Gomez’s deal is believed to be seven years in excess of $7 million-per. No word on the Drury terms.

The Rangers just sent out a release on both player signings, and a conference call is scheduled foir 8:15 p.m.

Well I for one couldn’t be more miserable. We let out number one center go and sign two number two centers. Drury would have been great alone, but to waste seven mil over seven for Gomez who scored all of 60 points last year may be one of the worse deals we have ever made. Especially as Jagr hasn’t clicked with any north american players since he left Mario’s side …

Sam, Thanks for yet another day of excellent coverage. With all the BS rumors, rumor denials, etc floating around today, I knew I could trust this blog. This is incredible news. LET’S GO RANGERS!!! – NOW LET’S RE-SIGN SHANNY AND GET READY FOR TRAINING CAMP.

Is Jagr not a bigger offensive talent ? I think so ! And is he any softer then Nylander ? Not to mention he plays and kills PP. One 60pt year doesn’t mean anything. Jagr had an off year so should we dump him.

Not to mention the system in which he played which is not conducive to goal scoring.

Best UFA Centers in the World: Briere > Gomez > Drury > Nylander.
Best Cities in the World New York > All of them! Obviously, if we had not gotten Drury, we would have resigned Nylander in five minutes for exactly what he was worth, five million or so. The rangers spent last year in 3 center purgatory, and that problem is solved. The defense is solid and has proven itself over two seasons as being highly respectable (if infuriating at times). Solid up front, solid on the back end, and solid in goal. I give you the New York Rangers!

The New York Rangers have made a major impact in the free agent market, signing forwards Scott Gomez and Chris Drury.

Gomez signed a seven year, $51.5 million contract, while Drury inked a five-year, $35.25 million contract.

Gomez appeared in 72 games for the New Jersey Devils in 2006-07 recording 13 goals, 60 points and 42 penalty minutes.

The Alaska native was drafted by the Devils in the first round, 27th overall, in the 1998 entry draft. He went on to win the Calder Trophy, as the league’s best rookie, recording 19 goals and 51 assists in 82 games.

The five-foot-eleven, 200-pound centre won two Stanley Cups with the Devils (2000 and 2003). The 27-year-old has played in 548 regular-season games scoring 116 goals and 450 points in his seven-year career with the Devils.

In international play he has represented the United States at the 2004 World Cup and two World Junior Championships (1998 and 1999).

Drury, 30, is coming off a strong season in which he registered career-highs in goals (37), including nine game-winners, and points (69). Of his eight playoff goals, three were game-winners, giving him 15 for his career.

The seven-year NHL veteran has scored 193 goals and 464 points in 628 career games.

From what I can find out it looks like the Rangers have something like 10 mill left for next year to sign the RFAs. And Gomez has a deal that starts out bigger…so if Sather is smart he can get the RFAs signed…maybe a trade or two is made and kids fill a hole or two…still time before the season to worry about moveing a mill or two if needed.

That $27M figure cited does not include restricted free agents Henrik Lundqvist (likely to come in around $5M per); Sean Avery (anywhere from $1.75-$2.5M after receiving a $1.1M qualifier); Marcel Hossa ($660,000 qualifier); and Petr Prucha ($610,000 qualifier). Nor does it count impending Brendan Shanahan, who played for a $4M base last year but is likely to agree to less in addition to hard cap-exempt bonuses. Minus what Drury and Gomez got it still looks to be doable.

This team has a very strong chance at winning the it all this year. I dont think we will have any issue signing our free agents cap-wise. Im sure they are all willing to take cuts in pay to play on this team.

Don’t even worry about who will mesh with Jagr. This will probably be his last year here… and Drury and Gomez will be here for a few more years than that. Obviously Slats was looking more in the future. Now we just need the give Hank the $$$ he deserves. As well as Shanny and BrAvery.

I am beyond disgusted.I can’t even think of the words to say how pissed i am right now. Wasn’t stupid contracts like these what the lockout was suppose to stop? This shows you how much that worked. Now just which one of these will come back to bite the Rangers in the ass first? Not to mention i can’t stand either of these guys. Scott Gomez is so full of himself its pathetic and has anyone ever seen Chris Drury smile? How will they fit in the lockeroom? I think we found out last year how important that is. This just adds one more to my ever growing list of reasons to stop watching hockey. This is just a terrible mistake neither of them is worth that much money. Because i love the Rangers i hope i’m wrong. Now what about Henrik,Sean Avery,and Petr Prucha? Is there any money left to sign them?

the rangers have made 3 amazing pickups we are always getting the older bruce driver, bill guerin types avery last year then the big guys today says something about our organization a real change has happened dont forget we are still going to trade montoya we could package some salary if a team really wants him

barbara calm down we will be fine read the other postings about shanny we will be fine there are not going to be any marquee players as ufas next year thorton resigned, iginla close to extension as well and this is probably jagrs last year these are building blocks

I don’t think this means Jagr is done. He’ll enjoy the load shift that will come with the Rangers having more talent and more players that have to be targeted, leaving him with more freedom. Let’s not forget Nylander wasn’t Czech. Obviously JJ’s loyalty was to the team, and I do think what he enjoys the most, and what will keep him here for more than just next year, is is winning. If these guys help the Rangers win, JJ won’t pout or leave.

I understand exactly where Barbara is coming from and her concerns should be in the back of the minds of every Rangers fan.
While the 2 pick-ups can be HUGE for us, we still took a huge chance today; with a possible massive payout.

If either of these guys get hurt, (Drury had a concussion last year) then we are out 7+ million in salary cap.

As our prospects get older and better, THEY will command more money as well.
The concern is that we have a 2-3 year window to win the cup before we have to have a massive fire sale.

Yes they are big contracts but to get the best u have to spend the most sometimes. That said, Gomez is truly a gifted playmaker who plays both ways, wins faceoffs (led devils in faceoff %), and will be a great asset to either Jagr or Shanny (depending on line combos). Drury is one of the most clutch players in the league, just look at Game 5 last year (that hurt just to type). Drury is a 30 goal scorer who can also play physically and will be great in front of the net on the PP. Sather deserves all the credit in the world for trying to put the best team possible on the ice while Jagr’s still around

yea Drury is soft. If you think Drury is soft the nScott Stevenes was soft…

Drury and Gomez are very good well rounded players.. Did they get overpaid? Of course…So what..Gomez is 27.. Jagr is up after this coming yr.. and malik and straka… they are moving in the irght directions. will they win the cup? who knows, they have a shot. they should be better then this yr. and be competitive in the playoffs. At this moment the east looks weaker; buffalo should be down, Ottawachas done nothing yet, Islanders are down..Philly improved but they were awful last yr..NJ on paper should be down….

The west is the power.. Niedermayer is retiring!!!He was one hell of a player and a honorable guy. He walked away from million, very impressive………

everyone who is signing today was overpaid what about rafalski he will be making 6 mill at age forty u gotta do what u gotta do to ensure u get what u need would u rather have had nylander and lang for 5 mill less than what we have these guys are in the prime of their careers

I would rather have had Nylander back for two more seasons and then either Drury or Gomez as the 2nd line pivot.

I liked Nylander and wanted him on the team, and am curious why stogiepuss (Sather), I got that name from someone on one of these boards, not my original, couldn’t or wouldn’t come to terms with him.

It’s going to take me a while to get used to Gomez, since he’s a hated Devil, Drury I am happy we got.

I would rather have gotten Souray and either Drury/Gomez, but I understand when it comes to the UFA market it’s a bit tougher to get deals done not knowing who else is in the bidding.

I look at it this way.. Nylander got his offers from the Rangers and decided to turn them down and he got passed on by. Either he is indifferent about who he plays for or he made a major miscalculation and got burned and you can’t expect the Rangers to just sit back and allow the UFA’s to get gobbled up.

Gomez can bring the puck up the ice with the best of em and he can dish the puck, whereas Drury plays a good two-way game. All I know if the Rangers have two centers locked up for a while and Dubinsky can fill-in after Cullen’s deal is through or he moves to wing.

Like MJA_NYR, I’d like a little clarity on this “slightly” changing the Lundqvist situation statement. I’ve got steam coming out of my ears. Decent centers at the expense of a superstar goalie? Big mistake.

vogs, I bet Nylander didn’t want a 2 year deal. So we went in a different direction. He had plenty of chances to sign in recent weeks, but decided not to. Now he’ll get his big payday…only somewhere else.

MJA-we signed 2 centers, all the guys u mentioned are wings who arent going to be pushed out…if anything there will be no ortmeyer, hossa, and a tough guys platoon between orr and hollweg. Shannys deal wont kill the cap due to bonuses. Avery and lundy can still get their shares while staying under the cap

MJA, all 3 of those guys will be signed. Shanny will take 3 mil or less to play one final season. Ludqvist will certainly be locked up long term, as he is the most important piece…so figure he’ll get a 6 year, 30m+ deal. And unless Avery decides to be a real pain, I see him signing a 3 year deal at around 6m or so. We have the cap room, so you don’t need to worry about those 3 guys.

I imagine the Lundqvist thing means they will have to slightly alter the pay structure of his offer to cope with these signings. There is absolutely no way that he is going anywhere — even Dolan recognizes what a great fan favorite he is and what that means to the bottom line in ticket sales, merchandising, etc. Lundy is the man and no one is getting rid of him.

guys we should be jumping up and down we have a real shot here we deserve this these players wanted to come here that tells u something drury could have gotten more in la or san jose same with gomez i am very happy

“TO SAM: Can someone please IP ban Ivana? People like her really, really make this Ã¢â‚¬Å“forumÃ¢â‚¬? a shitty place because of how they troll it and all. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m sure there is a way to IP ban that idiot.”

go cry on hockey’s future boards fuckung crybaby piece of shit. Unlike hockey’sfuture this board is not being run by pathetic moderators who delete, close, move and edit other people’s posts whenever they feel like it and ban whoever they don’t like.

Yenner-Ivana-DumpJagr-Porkanus or whatever your most recent incarnation is, let me ask you this: WHAT FRIGGIN’ TEAM DO YOU(UNDERLINED) WANT TO SEE HERE? Jessiman playing first line with Dubinsky? Jagr bought out? Montoya backing up Lundqvist? Lundqvist’s twin brother playing second-line center? WTF do YOU want?

Frankly, I’ve put up with a lot of BS from this organization’s dickering, just like every Ranger fan. The Macleans, the Lindroses, the Quintels…benching Malhotra, benching Blackburn…benching Lundmark… trading Norstrom, trading Kovalev, trading Savard…skating Brent Fedyk, Billy Tibbets and Tim Taylors. I’ve watch one high-price FA flop after the next sign with this club, the Kamenskys, the Lefebvres, the list goes on…There’s been nothing but reasons for pessimism since Messier left for the ‘nuks nearly a decade ago.

Then there was the success of Jagr’s line; the success of Lundqvist, the start of a bonafide farm system. Most recently, there’s been a run to the second round, a hungry Ryan Callahan, a reinvigorated Sean Avery. Then the Rangers get the BEST two guys on the market, and two guys young enough to carry the team as Jagr nears retirement and Cherepanov and Staal near NHL careers…what do you say?

You call the team “a pathetic joke of an organization” and temper the excitement here with your own BS assessment: “I bet you morons are thinking they will win the Cup with these bunch of small soft players.”

So, DO TELL US: WHAT THE @#%$ YOU WANT. Go ahead. I’m waiting for your next incarnation that will mystically lead the Rangers to a cup with an average team age of 21; or better yet, a team where the standard size is a 6’6 player weighing more than most NFL tackles and collecting more PIMs than Tiger Williams did in his heyday. Let’s hear it. Let’s hear your mystical prediction that would shut you the #$%^ up for once; the move Sather could make that would have you chiming in with something like “oh, well that was a swell move and I think the team is better now.”

Jeeze…you’ve got to take some prozac, dude. You even bashed the drafting of Cherepanov until you realized THE ENTIRE HOCKEY WORLD was marveling over what a bargain it was. So please, do tell us what would finally appease your vitriolic posts.

CML- NO i am not Ivana, don’t insult me. I’m a real female we all know that “Ivana” is pork anus, yenner mot or what ever other name HE used. I like Tom Renney, and Jagr is my favorite player so no i’m not Ivana. Like i said because i love the Rangers i hope i’m wrong and this turns out to be a good thing,but right now its gives me a very bad feeling. If Jagr has a good year and the teams goes so far in the playoffs i think his option year kicks in automatically doesn’t it? I don’t remember all the stipulations. If thats the case he will be here at least two more years. I hope.

i think it is kind of interesting reading that sather didnt let either of them know that he was going after the other till the very end, he was negotiating with them both sperately, and after they signed gomez and drury realized they both signed with the rangers
i figured that once drury saw that gomez signed that maybe his interest might have increased

“We still have other people we have to sign so we have to be careful but we think we have things calculated out and we’re in a good position,” Sather said. “We think we can keep everyone we have right now.”

Listen boys and girls: we have a strong team put together here with some great lines. Why debate the facts or what we “coulda shoulda woulda?” We’ve got a winning team here with upcoming talent…these people aren’t thinking of the fans when they make these deals. It’s about money, longevity, and winning. They’ll hang onto guys like Avery and Jagr and Lundquist not because the fans like ’em but because they are strong TEAM players as well as individuals. This team is ready to sweep.

I’d say that’s pretty darn good. I love the offensive potential, and I think we might want to work on a cheap Dman, but the cap room is a little lacking for that; we might want to look at a trade, I’m thinking Malik or Rozie for a top 2-3 Dman.

Wow. Simply amazing, especially if we can resign all of our RFA’s and get Lundy signed long term. If just a couple more of our defensive prospects break right we could be the dominant team for years to come.

Barbara – For the record I’m pretty sure Ivana is a woman as well. That said, these were great moves given the team’s, organizational depth and the fact that the 2008 free agent class got alot weaker today w/ Thornton and Igilna getting extentions. This team is close and it would have been a crime to have unused cap space this season.

WOW! I’m in the car for two hours, hearing nothing on WFAN, and come back to this outstanding news! The salaries might be too much, but a Cup is worth it, especially with so many young guys that don’t command a big part of the team salary. Looks like Gomez on the first line then Drury. If we do go over the cap signing our RFAs, I think Sather will be trying to trade Hossa and Hollweg, possibly Mara or Malik.

Hopefully, these signings get Jagr to stay two more years. With the option year, would the Caps still pay half of his salary then? That would be the real dealmaker.

I wonder where Robert “It’s a failure if they don’t win the Cup every year; they should use young players to win in three years” Bonfire is now. tdchi, I think it’s just time we started ignored Ivana. He did actually go away for several days after deserting the DumpJagrDope name, I believe. But Sam banning him would be nice, too. I surmise Robert was a Devils or Penguins fan while Ivana is a Charlotte Checkers fan.

Nylander doesn’t suck, guys. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. Yeah, he’s stupid for not taking the deal, but if he would have, you wouldn’t be talking crap about him. He’ll find a nice home someplace else, and his buddies on our team know all his tricks…so they’ll know how to deal with him when he comes.

I better call Ivana an Islander fan again or I will lose my status as the poster Ivana hates the most here. I wonder what the Buffalo fan (or was he fishstick fan) who claimed to be a Ranger fan who wanted us swept is thinking now. Also as mentioned above wonder how Sully is doing. And last but not least Bonfire is probably ready to jump off a bridge since we signed players higher than 18 yrs old.

Seth, Immo signed to play in Finland and he wasn’t making this team anyway. Secondly, Malik isn’t going anywhere either. Staal will probably be in the third pairing to start. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rangers made a move for an offensive defenseman. I realize everyone is is hot for the youngsters, but if they’re good enough they’ll make it. We have Giradi, Tyutin, Cally, Prucha playing and maybe Staal. That’s plenty of youth. Now, I wish we could jettison Hossa. Two weeks of strong hockey on Jagr’s wing is no reason to take up space.

Ivana they needed 2 of the 3. Nylander got Sather to blink but he shot himself in the foot. He lost when he fired his agent so he could renege on the deal. He could have resigned by Sat. but he wanted to test the waters, now he’s swimming in UFA land.He’ll find land.Brooks claims he turned down 4.5 six weeks ago. They needed his chemistry with Jagr but Sather is a vindictive man. If you look too hard you’ll always find something wrong, nobody is perfect. WAKE UP!

Does anyone think Canadian Mounties can take a joke if I go over the border wearing my Rangers jersey and talk shit about the Sabers and Maple Leafs? Random I know, but when Jess talked about Niagra Falls it came to me.

Ivana is clearly an Islander fan. While a Ranger fan might not agree with what happened today, no Ranger fan would come on here cursing all of us out because the Rangers signed two top notch UFAs. And that’s what they are. Only a jealous, frustrated Islander fan would act like that.

To all the nay-sayers, isn’t the ultimate goal the Stanley Cup? If we can win it with Drury and Gomez, isn’t that worth sacrificing some playing time for our younger guys? What good is a group of young players if you have nothing to show for it?

NYLANDER – If that’s true, that he passed up the $4.5 million, then it serves him right for getting kicked off the team. His only hope is to sign with the Crapitals…and they just got Kozlov…SOURAY – Nope, don’t need him. Don’t care about his “killer” slapshot or his prowress at the point. I just don’t see it happening anyway, unless Malik is moved. Here’s my take on lines:

I’d frankly like to see what Hossa would do on the top line. It would be great to have two winger of serious size to flank Gomez and Hoss managed to score pretty damn well with JJ and Nylander. In this case, Straks moves to second, Prucha to third with Callahan and Avery centering; Cullen gets moved and Dawes joins fourth…OTOH, Drury might be a good fit with Jagr and Hoss, then have Straks and Shanny(or Cally if he’s not signed)on second…

Drury & Gomez are heading to the city that doesn’t sleep , TWO WORDS:STANLEY CUP. I am in total shock Sather and staff actually got these two to sign with us. I am so excited however for Gomez’s sake hopefully he can play with us just like Shanahan and not like Holik, Maclean, Dunham, & Driver turned out, and as for Drury A+++++. Well I guess for Michael Nylander unless he accepts a less pay salary he might be picked up by the Blues, Caps, or even the Sabres now that Buffalo has lost not one but two big name forwards. Oh and just a reminder Islanders lost Jason Blake & Victor Kozlov not to mention Tom Poti, all on the same day, I knew today looking outside it was a perfect day today. LETS GO RANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In economics there is a term called Marginal Product. It refers to the additional revenue generated by an asset (in this case a player). In cities with larger fan bases, were each additional win has a chance to attract that many more viewers, players will be paid more than they would be paid in cities with smaller fan bases. In a smaller market, like Joe Thornton’s San Jose, a Chris Drury would be paid less than a Joe Thornton’s 7.1 million dollars. In Chris Drury’s New York, Joe Thornton would be paid 8 million, because each win he generates, in addition to what Drury would generate, brings in that many more fans. Gomez and Drury are paid that much because they play in a lucrative market. Wins are worth more here, and that is why the salaries of New York sports teams are generally the largest in their leagues. Think Yankees.

The Rangers had been looking for a second-line center to play with forward Brendan Shanahan, and now can plug Gomez into that spot. Drury’s signing means that New York will let unrestricted free agent Michael Nylander leave, creating a spot on the top line for Drury to play alongside Jaromir Jagr.

Aw, this was a really nice post. In concept I wish to put in writing like this additionally ?taking time and precise effort to make a very good article?however what can I say?I procrastinate alot and certainly not seem to get one thing done.